The second round of the Mizuho Americas Open faced harsh weather conditions, making it feel like November instead of May. Many top LPGA players struggled with their performance at Mountain Ridge Country Club.
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WEST CALDWELL, NEW JERSEY - MAY 08: Celine Boutier of France looks on from the 11th tee during the second round of the Mizuho Americas Open 2026 at Mountain Ridge Country Club on May 08, 2026 in West Caldwell, New Jersey. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
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WEST CALDWELL, N.J — The second round of the Mizuho Americas Open was met with blustery and cold conditions that made it feel more like November out on the course than early May.
The weather combined with a difficult course at Mountain Ridge made it feel more like a Monday working, than a Friday playing golf. Many of the top of LPGA players shot strokes worse than yesterday and struggled to stay consistent amid the spitting, chilly day.
When the first group finished 18, they hustled quickly into the clubhouse for scoring, in a hurry to escape the unseasonable elements, as well as the final hole that's playing nearly a stroke over par.
Celine Boutier played in the first group and finished the day at 4-under 68. She currently sits in fourth on the leaderboard and said the unseasonable weather made Friday's round quite challenging.
"It was quite chilly this morning when we got out on the course. And then the wind started picking up when I was halfway through the front nine and it's just been blowing quite hard the last hour or two," Boutier added.
The current clubhouse leader, Jennifer Kupcho, birdied four of the front nine and parred the rest, but bogeyed two holes on the back half. She said she was able to take a lot more chances and be more aggressive before conditions worsened in the afternoon.
"Come the back nine when it was windy, as it is right now, I think you kind of have to be a little bit careful not to putt to, say, ten feet by or more or even off the green. The greens are really fast, so you just have to think about it and just be careful about what you're doing," Kupcho said after her round.
Though Kupcho sported multiple layers on Friday, she said she's used to this kind of weather. "I'm from Colorado, so I'm used to the cold," she quipped. "I mean, it's not bad until the wind picks up. Kind of once you get to the bottom of the hill it doesn't hit you as hard down there. Definitely up here at the top and when we're finishing, yeah, it gets cold the last couple holes."
When world No. 5, Hannah Green, finished her round with Lydia Ko and Charley Hull at 1-over 73, the Aussie remarked on the difficulty of the round after she finished.
"It became really swirly out there," Green said. "There is just a couple pin locations on some really tricky greens that are going to be really hard to manage this afternoon, so, yeah, I'm kind of glad that I'll be having lunch very soon."
The weather was blustery and cold, creating conditions that felt more like November than early May.
Many top LPGA players shot worse scores than the previous day, struggling to maintain consistency in the challenging conditions.
The Mizuho Americas Open is being held at Mountain Ridge Country Club in West Caldwell, New Jersey.
The second round took place on May 8, 2026.
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Hull finished below the predicted cut line and Ko shot 8 strokes higher than yesterday (75) and agreed that the wind played a huge factor. "I think putting actually becomes one of the hardest parts because the ball is oscillating and you're trying to stay calm and not move all around the place. You just have to be patient." Ko said.
The weather isn't the only thing making Mizuho a challenge, it's the difficulty of the pristine, yet hilly, course itself, which many players have equated to major-level links this week. "I think this golf course, it definitely has major feelings it to out here just because it plays long, tough, the wind will play a huge factor," Megan Khang said on Tuesday.
Ko summed up the tournament so far quite well: "It's almost like a British Open, but at a U.S. Open setup."